Tradition is a great way to celebrate where we have come from and what we have accomplished, but to live in the past, to not grow, to not learn new things, to not change, and to not adapt with the new knowledge available does not honour the hardships and lack of knowledge our predecessors, including our families, had to deal, cope with, and even struggle with when they were parents, teachers, employees, employers, etc, so let’s choose to advance ourselves and those who follow us … to honour those who came before us.

One day the sons (the angels) of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan (the adversary and accuser) also came among them. [Rev: 12:10] Cheeky devil, eh? (Pun intended)

And the Lord said to Satan, From where did you come ? Then Satan answered the Lord, From going to and fro on the earth and from walking up and down on it.

And the Lord said to Satan, Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who [reverently] fears God and abstains from and shuns evil [because it is wrong]?

Then Satan answered the Lord, Does Job [reverently] fear God for nothing?

Have you not put a hedge abouthim and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have conferred prosperity and happiness upon him in the work of his hands and his possessions have increased in the land.

But put forth Your hand now and touch all that he has, and he will curse You to Your face.

And the Lord said to Satan, Behold all that he has in your power, only upon the man himself put not forth your hand. [Job 1 6:12] The Everyday Life Bible Amplified Version Featuring Notes and Commentary by Joyce Meyer.

In other words, God said, go ahead, test Job, but don’t kill him.

Now, I was no Job, at least not for two-thirds of my life, even though, or because I was raised a Catholic, but twenty years ago, when everything in my life fell apart or was torn away, I yelled out, “If you exist God, then give me a reason for living, otherwise take me home!”

And He did … though obviously He didn’t take me home or I wouldn’t be writing this now.

Though I did not have the words for what I now call Connecting the Dots … with The Respect Principle, there was a subtle change that happened inside and then many outward changes happened too.

During that time, I was led to read a Paulo Coelho book called “The Valkryies” that was about a woman who one day felt compelled to leave her marriage, job, and suburban lifestyle to roam … and she did … and as I have.

During that time, she was guided to study and to share what she was learning. Her basic needs were met and she shared her path with kindred spirits. My basic needs have always been met, and a few wants were given too, but it was only when I actually started reading the Bible, an amplified version made more user-friendly by Joyce Meyers comments, that I discovered Job’s story.

Now for those of you who don’t know as I did not for years, Satan went to work on Job and took the lives of his children, all of his wealth, destroyed his friendships, and turned his wife against him, but Job held fast and refused to condemn God for all that was happening to him because his faith was greater than all earthly things.

Finally, Satan was defeated by Job’s faith and God revelled in Job’s stoic faith and rewarded him double for his trouble. Double his previous wealth was given to him, new children were born and much favor shone on Job for the rest of his life.

For twenty years, I’ve been driven to roam as I watched much fall away in my life or was destroyed, including many relationships and my finances. Moving from place to place became more constant than being in one place. And the places I have lived and the jobs I have done for minimum wage have revealed the much darker side of Canadian life and what it is like to truly live in poverty in Canada.

Now a researcher or journalist could try to study or even experience what it is truly like to live marginalized, but when you know you have your salary, home, and lifestyle to return to in months or even a year’s time, that expectation and knowledge prevents one from truly experiencing the reality of not just physical poverty, but also the impoverished thinking that wreaks havoc on the impoverished.

Even when people have good intentions, without conscious effort, quite often one’s sub or unconscious beliefs reveal themselves when they interact with the impoverished. The resulting behavior, often not missed by those already stressed by their circumstances, often manifests itself in disrespectful acts and words during one exchange, but also inflicts repetitive damage that will keep many people feeling small, not valued or respected, and often weary, frustrated, resentful, and angry … either taking it out on themselves or other people, including by not rising up to fulfil their potential. Of course, there are the exceptions, but certainly, as demonstrated by the news, they are not the rule.

How and why is all this relevant to Job or David or Joseph in the Bible or people such as Jeremy Lin in our present times?

Because, I’ve finally learned, not just by study, but by experience also, that God will allow bad things to happen to people, but not more than he or she can bear, in order to use those experiences to bring about much good, as He is doing with my own life.

Am I perfect, by no means no, but I am greatly changed. I am more of what I was at age five … bold, courageous, inquisitive, driven to learn, very concerned for others, and was destined to be before life on this earth, without really believing in God or knowing what that truly meant, transformed me into more of a reflection of the enemy … mean, judgmental, unforgiving, miserly, disrespectful, distrustful, resentful, angry … than of God … joyful, accepting, forgiving, generous, kind, respectful, trustful, loving.

My work history before the past twenty years began provided me with the formal education and business experiences needed to support what He has called me to do as The Respect Specialist, whether as a consultant or as a for-profit social business venture entrepreneur, along with the informal research, studies, and experiences of the last twenty years.

What Connecting the Dots … with The Respect Principle can do for organizations, as well as, for families, relationships, and communities is provide a fresh perspective, plus the tools on how to address the age-old, common, limiting beliefs, practices, and problems that depress the organizational mindset and as a result, profitability, and can even result in violence as evidenced by our legal system and prison overload.

And no, the Connecting the Dots … with the Respect Principle is not religious or spiritual. On the contrary, the concept was born of the desire to find one idea that feasibly could be embraced by all people superseding all of our beliefs … religious, political, racial, etc. that can also become our prejudices. The concept is based on the modern-day religions of science and intellect, but is not as cold, because though logical and practical, the concept is also compassionate because by its very nature respect as a principle neutralizes our valuation of ourselves, other people, and life in general.

What I later discovered after the Connecting the Dots … with The Respect Principle concept is the idea is actually in the Bible too. Go figure, eh? More present-day proof that God will work things out for good … no matter what has gone on before … for me … and for you.

Driven to learn, observing, studying, and learning in a variety of environments, in diverse roles, and in unconventional ways enabled me to see what was needed and what could be done to make things better … for everyone.

Which is what has always been the biggest driver of my life … helping people … which I now know He put in my heart, along with equipping me with the mind and all the resources needed to do what I have been called to do.

Now, the question begged is, how can I, The Respect Specialist, help you, your organization, or your community transform for the better too?

Many beliefs divide us … religion, politics race, sex, etc., … but the one thing with the power to unite us, even if we can’t yet love everyone, is the choice to respect … to value … all life and then use our heads and hearts to figure out how to live peacefully.

Remember, we know this now … only bullies, who are those the most frightened and/or broken, result to offensive acts towards themselves and others.

Science has also informed us we are only yet using a very small percentage of our brain’s ability, so instead of ramping up fire power, how about ramping up some brain power?

A simple way to start is “Connecting the Dots … with The Respect Principle” because the idea is logical, practical, and even compassionate and requires only one thing … that we stop treating some people as more valuable and others as less … in our words and actions, which means trashing other people’s beliefs.

If people are not hurting other people with their beliefs, the answer is simple … leave them alone and pour that energy into dealing with the need to trash other people.

Fiction is grand when one needs a break from work … however, when work is one’s passion and one’s passion needs rebooting to grow both a social business venture, including securing angel or venture capital investment to hit the market running, and establishing a consulting practice, this summer non-fiction tops the charts, starting, but not necessarily ending with these reads …

The Dragons’ Den Guide to Investor-Ready Business Plans by the producers of CBC’s Dragons’ Den with John Vyge

The Real-Life MBA … Your No-BS Guide to Winning the Game, Building a Team, and Growing Your Careerby Jack and Suzy Welch

Your Own Terms … A Woman’s Guide to Taking Charge of Any Negotiation by Yasmin Davidds with Ann Bidou, though as the authors point out, those of us with “Bridge brains” have the best of both worlds with male and female, right and left brain balance, making us excellent candidates as business leaders . Sweet!

Whatever your summer is filled with, I hope the key component is passion for your life.

Learn more about “Bridge Brains” in Yasmin Davidds and Ann Bidou’s book, “Your Own Terms … A Woman’s Guide to Taking Charge of Any Negotiation” (Yes, any negotiation!) that I’m studying to enhance my own negotiation skills.

Today’s discovery that I have a bridge brain, strong in both right and left, male and female, thinking certainly explains a lot about my personal and professional life, as did last week’s discovery that I am also an autodidact … a person with an abnormally high drive to study for the joy of learning … both of which I can now also leverage to support my consultant work and social business venture.

Whomever you are, give yourself the best gift … never stop learning, not just for school or work, but for you. Discover what science is learning every day about us as a species and apply it to your own life in order to understand and develop your own unique qualities in order to live your best and rewarding on-all-levels life!

Doing so demonstrates a higher Respect Level for yourself and for other people too because you can’t give to others what you don’t have yourself.

And, as someone who knows from years, yes, I did say years of experience, it is never too late to start … or restart!

With the recent discovery of the term, autodidact, I can now explain why I have been able to go above and beyond the call of duty in my work history and now as the person who developed the “Connecting the Dots … with The Respect Principle” concept, books, products, and services to drive the global initiative, once financing is available through employment, angel investors and/or venture capital.

Audodidact highlights from traditional roles and responsibilities are listed in the traditional manner on Linked In; however, the full scope of my accomplishments above and beyond the traditional will soon be found here on my blog.

Additionally, please note the past five years were primarily dominated by parental care needs, though I did seize the opportunity in between the demands on my time to further my self-directed studies, to write several books, and to establish a steadily increasing following blogging and on social media.

And if you know of anyone or realize you are an autodidact as well, I trust you will find in your research about the subject as I have, that we often accomplish unusual feats, so embrace who you are and accomplish your unusual feat as I am. Knowing this about me now (better late than never) sure makes it easier to explain to other people why and how I know what I know … and as a result, have done, can and will do.

But whomever you are and your unique blend of talents, just strive to be your best you because that is the best you can do.